I rise to speak on the Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Bill 2021—a bill this government has had to be dragged to finally bring to the table, though it still leaves much to be desired. Today we are marking Equal Pay Day and shamefully, staring at a gender pay gap of 14.2 per cent.

On Equal Pay Day the Greens have called on the PM to act immediately to close the gender pay gap, with the gulf between men’s and women’s earnings increasing during the pandemic.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said:
 
“Today is Equal Pay Day, representing the 61 extra days that women have to work to earn the same average income as men in the last financial year.

The Greens have renewed their calls for action on closing the gender pay gap after the Workplace Gender Equality Agency today revealed that the earnings gulf between men and women had widened over the last six months from 13.4% to 14.2%.

This means Equal Pay Day will this year fall on 31 August, marking the 61 extra days from the end of the financial year that women must work to earn the same annual pay as men.

Greens senators Larissa Waters, Mehreen Faruqi and Janet Rice have written to the Minister for Women and Foreign Affairs Marise Payne to urge the Government to provide immediate and increased aid to help women and girls now subject to Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

To ensure that aid is targeted to those most in need the aid should be delivered through partnerships with civil society and aid organisations working on the ground.

The Greens today will move for an independent inquiry into Christian Porter’s fitness to be a Minister after the PM this week promoted the former Attorney-General to Leader of the House, despite the unresolved allegations of sexual assault against him.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said:

“For two months now I have been fighting to progress my bill that would set up an independent inquiry into Christian Porter’s fitness to be a Minister and uphold the parliamentary standards that the PM is meant to apply.

Costings by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office reveal an incredible gender and income bias in the benefit of proposed stage 3 tax cuts.

The Greens have welcomed the release today of the Nowhere To Go report by Equity Economics, which finds that a significant build of social housing would support thousands of women and children fleeing family and domestic violence.

The report underscores the urgent need for a massive expansion in public and community housing, which the Greens continue to advocate for.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens spokesperson for Housing, said:

On the one-year anniversary of the suicide of Christian Porter’s accuser the Greens have called on the government, One Nation and Senator Jacqui Lambie to do the right thing and support the first reading of a bill to create a Commission of Inquiry into Minister Porter’s ministerial fitness.

Lines attributable to Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters:

“Today is a sad reminder of why we must have an independent inquiry into the allegations against former Attorney-General Christian Porter.

The Greens have renewed their call for publicly funded abortions after private service Marie Stopes announced yesterday it was shutting down four regional clinics in Queensland and New South Wales.

Lines attributable to Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters:

“The news that Marie Stopes is shutting down four regional clinics in Queensland and New South Wales is a massive blow for women’s reproductive health.